The Struggling Relationship between Society and Our Government

The readings about political culture in the United States define the culture with many moving parts. America’s political culture is made up of many different ethnicities, religious beliefs, and cultural differences. Considering the fact that there is a constant flow of immigrants to the US, the political culture is always shifting. The political culture of our country is made up by the convergence of both politics and society. The current challenge in America is finding a way for politics and society to work together effectively despite a diverse political culture.

Federalist Number 10 written by James Madison is about the creation and corruption of factions. Factions are typically observed in the world of politics and government but they are present in everyday life as well. Madison argues the main goal of a faction is to overthrow the government. In our current political culture this is not necessarily true. The amount of diversity we see in our nation today increases the possibility of these “factions” forming. However, the threat is not the government being overthrown, but each faction having an “every man for himself” mentality. This results in the relationship between the government and society becoming weaker. Over the past three or four decades the diversity America’s demographic structure has been increasing significantly. With this change comes the increased chance of racial and cultural inequality amongst these groups.

The factions seen in our culture are not created only by different races and beliefs, but are created due to the mistreatment based on these dissimilarities. For hundreds of years in America, African Americas have experienced traps of inequality and continue to experience these traps today. A new mistreatment facing this community is the killing of innocent children by the police. Tamar Rice’s death is one popularized example. In a Cleveland park the twelve year old boy was shot and killed by a white police officer after his pellet gun was mistaken for an actual firearm. This is one example of mistreatment based on race leading to further division and factions within our American political culture.

The way the government treats these different factions is one of the main reasons our political culture could be detrimental to our nation’s future. The prejudiced mistreatment of ethnicities, beliefs, and cultures by the government will eventually lead to a loss of influence over this large segment of our population. The struggling relationship between America’s diverse population and the government will continue to create factions and further overall instability within our country.

Stephanie Ellicott says:

February 11, 2018 at 11:43 pm

Thank you for writing such a thought provoking blog post, Klein.

There were many aspects of your post that I agreed with, but others that I questioned.

I liked your point when you said that the factions in the U.S. are many times created due to the mistreatment based on dissimilarities (ethnically, religiously, racially, etc.). This made me think of what was discussed in class, which was that all factions are “bad.” In my opinion, having factions isn’t necessarily bad, but instead can point out the flaws in our system. It is okay to have cultures within a larger culture, however if some of those cultures are treated differently by the government then major issues arise. I think it is important to differentiate between the negative idea of the term “faction” being an overthrow of government, like you said, and instead that it is currently a standard in the United States that we must address.

Also, I was curious about your statement, “the threat is not the government being overthrown, but each faction having an ‘every man for himself’ mentality.” What do you mean by this? Do you think that every faction has this mentality, and if so are they wrong in thinking that this is necessary for them to survive in such an unequal society?

Furthermore, you made the statement that over the past few decades the U.S. has been increasingly diversified in terms of demographic structure, which has in turn increased the chances of racial and cultural inequality among groups. However, I believe it could be argued that it is not the increased diversification that has caused inequality among groups, but the inequality that has caused for this diversification to be highlighted so prominently in order to prove that these inequalities exist and that changes need to be made. Unfortunately, these labels of cultural and racial differences subject certain people to be treated differently. It is a sad truth that needs to be constantly reminded to those who take their privileges for granted.

Overall, I enjoyed your reading your post. Thank you again.